Urgent Advice from Your Catholic Grandpa

By Robert A. Young

"Urgent Advice" is offered to the 29+ grandchildren of Bob and Mary Young. The advice will be helpful to anyone searching for Truth.

Grandpa Young explains the cosmic battle that is underway. He shares his experiences and insights so that you can avoid the tempting snacks in the spiritual dumpster. He wants you to discover how to enjoy family and laugh all the way to the eternal banquet of peace and joy.

Endorsement by Father Joseph Gill follows:

"Great work! This book is very readable, funny, and filled with faith and common sense. Grandpa Young, the author, has a personal relationship with God that is both interesting and edifying. Readers will be blessed with the "urgent advice" that is offered."

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532018893

Robert A. Young

Robert A. Young, also known as Grandpa Bob Young, currently lives in Connecticut with Mary, his wife of fifty years. They have nine children (eight of whom are married) and twenty-nine grandchildren (so far). Bob and Mary are avid Christians. Their spiritual views are consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Their goal is to practice their faith to the best of their ability and listen to the voice of God and obey. But of course they acknowledge their sinfulness and understand the nature of temptation. They appreciate the on-going need for forgiveness and reconciliation. More information about the Young family can be found on their website at www.calltobefree.com

Book preview

Urgent Advice

from Your Catholic Grandpa

Robert A. Young

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URGENT ADVICE FROM YOUR CATHOLIC GRANDPA

Copyright © 2017 Robert A. Young.

Front cover photo courtesy of Ryan Young and Trinity Young.

Back cover photo by SMO Photo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1890-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1889-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903723

iUniverse rev. date: 03/27/2017

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Why Did I Write This Book?

The Primal Decision

The Goal of Peace

Spiritual Communication and Navigation (Prayer)

Obedience; not Success

Childhood Decisions

Teenage Decisions

From Rules to Relationships

The Intimacy Instinct

Sexual Freedom

Which College?

College Age Decisions

College Age Decisions - What is the objective of college?

College Age Decisions - Reprogramming the Home button

College Age Decisions - Party and Prayer Strategy

College Age Decisions - Finding a Spouse

College Age Decisions - Finding a Job

Adult Decisions

Adult Decisions - Spouse Selection

Adult Decisions - Marriage

Adult Decisions - Family Planning

Adult Decisions - Teamwork and Sacrifice

Adult Decisions - Family Life

Adult Decisions - Communication

Adult Decisions - Forgiveness

Adult Decisions - Peace and Joy

The Spiritual War

The Enemy - Basic Tactics

The Enemy - His Successes

Defeating the Enemy - The Role of Religions

Carrying Our Personal Cross

Mercy: A Powerful Spiritual Weapon

Secrets: Mine and Yours

Mary is our Spiritual Mother

Mary is the Woman Clothed with the Sun

Mary is the Ark of the Covenant

Our Spiritual Mother is Guiding us Now!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Knock

Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Garabandal

Our Lady of Kibeho in Rwanda

Our Lady Queen of Peace at Medjugorje

Marian Apparitions - Conclusion

Urgent Advice: A Recap

Appendices: The Basics of Catholicism

Appendix I. The Big Picture

Appendix II. God Exists!

Appendix III History According to Grandpa

History of the World

History of Religion

History of the Bible

Appendix IV. Is God Catholic?

The Authority of the Pope and Bishops (Magisterium)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Appendix V. The Nicene Creed

Appendix VI. The Ten Commandments

Appendix VII. The Rosary Meditations

About The Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my grandchildren, current and future: Justin, Katie, Zacchaeus, Maximilian, Kateri, Therese, Miguel, Philomena, Marguerite, Felicity, Colton, Dakota, Nicholas, Theresa, Luke, Matthew, Emma, James, Averie, Elise, Christopher, Trinity, Grace, Mary, Justice, Faith, Colby, Isabelle, Simon, and ....

May these gifts from God our Father reflect brightly the light of Truth and the fire of Love.

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Photo by SMO Photo

Acknowledgements

Thanks to every member of my family who helped me extensively in creating this book: Mary, Christie, Angela, Nichole, Heidi, Rob, Ryan, Marianne, Russell, and Heather. The final work was substantially different than the initial draft, thanks to their persistence and loving involvement.

Thanks to Glenda Chaison for reading an early draft of the book and suggesting improvements and giving me encouragement to continue.

Thanks to AnnMarie Kennedy for her creativity guidance.

Thanks to my friend, William (Bill) Robbins, who reviewed the book and validated my comments on Judaism.

Thanks to Father Justin Cinnante and Father Joseph Gill. Their critiques and suggestions were essential to the integrity of the content.

And finally, thanks to the Holy Spirit for guiding the entire effort to lead us all to a better relationship with Truth!

Why Did I Write This Book?

I wrote this book because I am dying. Now don’t panic. I have no specific news in that regard. I am dying because I will not live forever. I am seventy-three years old and in the twilight of my life. You are dying also, but you will likely live for many more years.

My desire is to convey the important things I have learned over the last seventy-three years so that you will have a joy-filled life in this world and in the next.

The most important aspect of this book relates to the decisions you will make in the future and my recommendations about those decisions.

But to make sound decisions, one has to have a decision-making framework. A faithful, informed Catholic has that framework and can answer the following questions:

• Is there a God?

• Is that God Catholic?

• Is the Bible relevant?

• How do I get real-time guidance?

• What is my role in the spiritual war?

Many of you reading this book are already deeply immersed into the Catholic faith and can answer those questions. But for those who are not, the appendix of this book describes the basics of Catholicism, which you might find helpful.

Now before you continue reading this book, ask yourself the question. Why am I reading this book?

Let me reveal now one of the main assertions made in this book: There are no accidents! After you read this book, you will understand why God brought it to you.

The Primal Decision

Dear grandchildren, God gives each of us two gifts: time and free will. We don’t know how much time we have here on earth. But, during our time here, our free will is what makes us unique as persons. We can decide. During our lifetime we will make thousands upon thousands of decisions.

We will become the sum total of all those decisions we make. Our body will be gone after we die. We are told that we will have a resurrected body, but we don’t know exactly what that will be like. So in the end, that which makes us unique will be the sum total of our decisions we make in this life.

My goal in this book is to convey urgent advice to you about how you should make those decisions.

There are small decisions, and there are huge decisions. A small decision might be, Will I have oatmeal for breakfast, or will I have a fried egg for breakfast? A big decision will be something like, Should I marry this boy or should I marry this girl?

The primal decision, the most fundamental decision, is the decision that you make in relation to God. Do you want to follow God’s will? Or do you want to follow your own will?

This primal decision will determine your entire future, both in this life, and in the eternal life thereafter. It is a very basic question. Do you want to live in Heaven? Or do you want to live in Hell?

The problem people have today is that they often never make a conscious decision. Many of them have chosen Hell, but are completely unaware that they have made that decision.

Generally speaking, if you have not made a conscious decision that you want to live in Heaven, you may have subconsciously chosen Hell by your lifestyle. Upon death, that decision becomes final for eternity.

I will share my own experience. I did make a decision very young that I wanted to live in Heaven. But to make that decision work, to make it operative, one has to commit 100% to be obedient to God’s will. Until I was nearly fifty years old, my decision was that I would be 99.99% obedient to God’s will. I was willing to be obedient to God’s will, as long as He didn’t tell me that I should travel to Africa and live with lepers the rest of my life. I knew I just couldn’t handle that. Therefore I knew I could be obedient to God’s will in most cases, but I didn’t trust God enough to be 100% committed.

What changed my life was when I realized I could trust God. In my spiritual reading I came across the story of a visionary who had received a message from Jesus. In that message Jesus said, If you commit to obey, I will give you peace and joy. After some prayer and reflection, I realized that one of two things would happen if I committed. Either He would not send me to Africa to take care of the lepers; or if He did, it would give me peace and joy. Therefore, if I committing to obey, I couldn’t lose either way. Wow! That was a revelation! I didn’t reach that point until I was almost fifty years old. So late one night, while lying in bed, I made the big commitment. I said to God, I will obey You, because I know that You will give me peace and joy if I do.

The next morning when I woke up, I didn’t realize it, but my life was about to change dramatically. It was as if I had been blind and now I could see. I had found the pearl of great value and was willing to sell everything to own it (Matthew 13:46). It was incredible. Suddenly I became aware of God’s presence in my life. Every moment of every day became an encounter with the living God who created me and sustains me, and who is constantly intervening in my life. I came to realize that in this life there are no accidents. There are no coincidences. In other words, everything that happens is orchestrated by our loving God and Father. It was an astounding revelation.

I made the commitment to obey God 100% on November 24, 1991. Then on December 8, 1992, about one year later, I consecrated myself to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Marian Consecration was completed using the Saint Louis de Montfort 33-day course of preparation. The Lord led me to do this when I came to realize that the act of consecrating oneself to Jesus through Mary added another dimension to one’s spiritual growth; it was like adding a booster rocket to my spiritual life.

I completed this consecration during an all-day meditation at the Miraculous Medal Chapel located at the Rue de Bac in Paris, France. At the end of the day there I bought a Miraculous Medal and have worn it around my neck every moment for the last twenty-five years.

Then in January of 1993 I met someone else who had consecrated himself to Mary: Saint Pope John Paul II. Wow! Unbelievable! About a year after I committed myself 100% to God, and to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary, I was shaking hands with the Pope. Really? Really! It was undoubtedly Divine Providence. There are no accidents. What a gift from God! Unknown to me at the time was that the Pope was also consecrated in the same way and that his motto, inspired by Saint Louis de Monfort, was Totus Tuus in Latin, which means Totally Yours in English.

During the brief personal encounter with the Pope, I was moved by the Spirit to expose my Miraculous Medal on the outside of my clothing. The moment he noticed my medal, he turned and gave his secretary a signal. Moments later Pope John Paul II was handing the gift of a Rosary to me and another to my wife, Mary, which he then blessed.

Then just to top off this providential miraculous encounter with a living Saint, my wife asked the Pope to bless our family. He did! The photos which follow capture that moment.

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Now why am I telling you all this? For one simple reason: I want you to have a miraculous experience with our living God before you are fifty years old and your life is more than half over. The exciting thing is that many of you may have already made this decision to commit. Thanks to your grandma primarily, and me to some extent, your parents have, for the most part, already made this decision to commit to God and to obey 100%. And they have passed